ALPHAS “The Unusual Suspects” Season 1, Episode 10 – This week’s episode of Alphas definitely took me on a wild ride. Having the tactical forces ambush the Alphas team without explanation got the episode off to a dizzying action packed start which completely amplified the anxiety of their baffling situation. That intense pacing didn’t really slow down until the very end and although I can now see the clues hinting at “Rosen” being an Alpha impostor, I had no idea that a twist like that was coming my way.
I was confused by the way Rosen had been handling a lot of the situations with his team but the moment Rosen told Hicks that he should have sent him to Binghamton a long time before, I began to wonder what must have snapped in Rosen’s head. It was totally uncharacteristic of the Dr. Rosen we’ve come to know over the course of the season. My suspicions quickly turned on him and I began to dread the thought of him actually being the traitor among the group. Although that seemed like the obvious reality, I didn’t want to believe that Rosen had been maliciously manipulating the Alphas.
When Rachel realized that the blood type of the Rosen impostor didn’t match the blood type of their Dr. Rosen, I had a split second of relief before being stunned again by the urgency of their new situation. Impostor Rosen had Gary with him and the real Dr. Rosen was about to be wiped out by an Alpha that seemed to be able to suck the life force out of the people he touched. The suspense wouldn’t be over until these Alphas were captured.
I wish we could have had a little bit more detail on the science that inspired the Alpha abilities of this week’s antagonists since they did seem a bit more on the superhero fantasy side than super human Alpha ability side. With so much going on, I’m sure a neurological examination was probably not among the first things Rosen had on his mind.
There was something scary about the way the first few scenes in Binghamton were filmed. Although filled with harsh fluorescent hospital lights, the rooms and halls still seemed uncomfortably dark and there was a rugged camera feel that almost made it seem like the scenes had been filmed by an undercover observer. As Rosen walked past the doors that contained the other Alphas who were coming out of their haze like frightened animals in an laboratory, he could have very easily been walking down a hallway to some hospital horror scene.
That effective attention to the background scenery continued to affect the feel of each of the scenes at the facility. The interrogation had unusually warm lighting that was too yellow to create a comfortable space and made the room feel more like it was frozen in amber. As the Alphas were revealing their agitation through their reactions and interactions, the settings around them were already projecting an unwelcoming aura so even as a removed viewer, I felt uncomfortable simply watching the Alphas in those spaces.
The interrogation assistant, Eric, is an old acquaintance of both Dr. Rosen and Rachel. His ability allows him to read people’s faces and understand their honest thoughts based on their body language. He mentions to Clay that the ignorance about what other people are thinking is what keeps normal people happy and that because he’s not capable of that ignorance, he’s become cynical and bitter.
Even if he is cynical and bitter, he was funny in his blunt honesty and I really liked his sweat-pants-clad charm. I’m hoping we’ll see more of him in the near future since Rosen and Clay seem to think he may be able to contribute to the Alphas team.
Eric has this youthful affection for Rachel which I thought was hilarious and sweet. I’m not sure if it’s simply the effect of being flirted with in that playful way or if she has just gradually become more lighthearted since her family’s attitude has changed towards her, but Rachel’s character has started to really click for me recently. She’s still loyal and completely neurotic, but she doesn’t hide her smiles when she’s with the rest of the Alphas anymore. She feels like a much more whole person than she did earlier in the season.
We don’t get much more information about Red Flag and we actually don’t get a whole lot of information about “The Committee” that was mentioned in the very first scene of this episode. Even if there aren’t major developments in every Alphas episode that contribute to the Red Flag mythology. I find that I actually enjoy picking up on some of the tiny puzzle pieces that contribute to the bigger picture. I’ll just have to wait to find out where exactly The Committee fits in.
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